10/28/2024
“Great Falls This Week” is reported and written by Matt Hudson. Send your news and tips to [email protected].
Election staff busy ahead of the big day
With just over a week until Election Day, the Cascade County elections office has been a hive of activity. The courthouse annex on First Avenue North has seen streams of people doing ballot drop-offs, new or updated registrations and asking questions.
“No. 1 thing is for people to have patience with us and the post office,” said Cascade County Elections Administrator Terry Thompson.
The county sent more than 34,000 absentee ballots to voters who signed up to receive them. They can be filled out and mailed or dropped off at the county elections office (325 2nd Ave. N.), which is the only form of early voting in Montana. If you don’t submit an absentee ballot, you can still vote at the polls on Election Day.
With long lines during the day, Thompson said her staff has a night crew that is scanning envelopes of returned absentee ballots to record receipt of them.
Voter turnout is likely to be high for this year’s election, which features a marquee presidential race that has been virtually tied in polls. Thompson said the elections office has registered more than 1,300 people in the past six weeks, and overseas voter activity is above normal as well.
“It’s a good problem to have,” she said. “People want to vote, and the organizations with their voter registration drives have done a fantastic job.”
The USPS processing plant in Great Falls, which distributes mail for 101 ZIP codes (starting with 594, 595 and 596 if you’re curious), has been busy as well. A USPS representative told Montana Free Press that deliveries were extended to Sunday, Oct. 13, and the following federal holiday on Oct. 14 to meet demand.
The action will soon turn to the Montana ExpoPark, which is the voting location for most precincts in the county. The first sign of activity takes place today, in fact. At 1 p.m. at the Exhibition Hall, county staff will conduct a public test of the ballot machine.
On Election Day, Nov. 5, Thompson’s office will move operations to Exhibition Hall, and the regular county elections office will be closed to regular business. It will be a busy day for the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office as well. Deputies will be on hand for general security, helping to transport ballots and to keep the peace.
“The major thing that I think about is upholding the laws that deal with elections but not going overboard,” Sheriff Jesse Slaughter said. “Electioneering is probably the biggest thing we run into.”
He’s referring to a state law that forbids explicit support or opposition to a candidate within 100 feet of a polling place. Visitors to Exhibition Hall on Nov. 5 will likely notice campaign signs in the parking lot, just outside of that radius.
Photo Op
Using rakes to smack the water, Great Falls Park and Recreation staff herded Gibson Park waterfowl into a cage to be transported to their indoor winter quarters. The annual “Duck Roundup” has become a spectacle for families, who lined the edges of the pond to catch the action.
Calling all photographers: Submit a photo for Great Falls This Week to [email protected].
Following Up
The Golden Triangle Resource Council joined Pondera County commissioners in calling on Calumet to invest in water treatment facilities for its biofuels plant.
Golden Triangle asked Calumet subsidiary Montana Renewables to prioritize water treatment as part of its plant expansion.
“Injecting contaminated water underground poses unacceptable risks to the Madison Aquifer, clean drinking water, irrigation water, wildlife and the livelihoods of area ranchers and farmers. Montana Renewables should treat and even recycle the water at the refinery starting from day one,” said Steve Grout, a member of Golden Triangle Resource Council, as part of a press release.
A Cut Bank company has requested permits from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for Calumet to inject wastewater from the biofuels plant into an aquifer 3,500 feet below Pondera County property. The permits have preliminary approval but are not yet finalized. In permit application documents, the EPA determined that the aquifer in that location is not a current source of drinking water and is unlikely to be in the future. The proposed wastewater injection sites have received wastewater from another nearby oil well in the past.
The Montana Renewables plant will undergo a substantial expansion thanks to a $1.4 billion loan that the U.S. Department of Energy approved earlier this month. In response to the loan, Pondera County commissioners issued a statement asking Montana Renewables to abandon its wastewater injection plan and instead build a treatment plant on site.
That is part of Montana Renewables’ plan, according to company spokesperson Media Oakes, who told MTFP that the new loan “provides funding to construct on-site water treatment facilities.” How that will be prioritized is unclear. By Friday morning, Oakes didn’t respond to a question about when the facilities would be constructed, and she declined to comment on the status of the wastewater injection request. “It’s not our permit,” she said.
She was referring to Montalban Oil and Gas Operations, the Cut Bank company that owns the inactive oil and gas wells into which water would be injected. That company applied for the injection permit, though Montana Renewables is the only listed source of wastewater.
5 Things to Know in Great Falls
The Great Falls Area Community Foundation has been busy handing out grants to 17 area organizations that serve the community in different ways. Board Chair Sarah Cawley told MTFP that the organization relies on its endowment to dole out annual grants and was able to spread the love across 17 entities. They included Grace Haven, YWCA of Great Falls, Peace Place and many more. “We just find so much joy, all of us find joy, in being able to chat with these organizations and find out what their needs are and have the ability to support them,” Cawley said. The foundation’s site is here.
Cascade County commissioners approved a request from Public Works to prohibit the dumping of snow onto public roads. Public Works Director Les Payne told commissioners that pushing driveway snow out onto the road is a common winter practice, but it has become a hazard. The resolution doesn’t have an enforcement mechanism, like an ordinance, but the department hopes it will help alert the public to the county’s policy.
The city of Great Falls will reinstate its parking violation process, which was on hold for nearly two years while the parking vendor worked to resolve a malfunction in license plate recognition. Some $78,680 in unpaid parking violations have accumulated since then, according to the city. As the process restarts, anyone with five or more unpaid citations that are more than 30 days old will get a letter. Ignore the letter and your vehicle risks getting the boot.
Great Falls Clinic announced a new CEO, Mark Robinson, who joined the clinic and hospital system on Oct. 8. He most recently worked as a market leader and president of Tacoma and Allenmore Hospitals for MultiCare, a health system in Washington state. In a press release, Robinson said about his first week: “Between the smiling faces, the warm receptions, 5-star celebration, you quickly wonder if it can get any better.”
Crews from Tree Amigos were out at Gibson Park culling trees on Oct. 21. Dutch elm disease, aging trees and vandalism led to 36 trees being marked for removal, according to a city of Great Falls representative. Ten additional trees will be removed from the park this winter. There is a replanting effort underway. It’s called “Gibson Park Root Revival,” and the goal is to replant 25 trees, according to Meredith Dawson, the city’s communication specialist. The People’s Park and Recreation Foundation is calling for donations toward the effort through its website.
